Archive of Our Own

Lumine filled his every day with sound.

Childe looked forward to always seeing her, always being able to hug her. To kissing the top of her head.

It had been awhile since they’d fallen into each others’ arms. Since that one fight where she’d toppled onto him, breathing hot air right into his mouth.

He’d looked into her eyes and finally, finally, she looked back at him the same way he’d been admiring her.

“Guess you’ve fallen for me, girlie.”

Lumine had pouted, acting as if she was upset.

But she’d grabbed his face between her hands. “May I, then?” All impatient, like the world was ending around them.

“I’ve been waiting,” he said, breathless.

He let her kiss him then, the back of his head pressed into the dirt. The dust still unsettled from their fight only seconds before.

Warm lips pressed into his, filling his life with something new. With something he’d always wanted.

A home.

Lights and sounds burst into him then, filling his world with everything he’d wanted to reach. The sound of birds singing beside their sparring center. The rustle of sunflowers waving in the wind nearby. The brightness of the sun, shifting through her hair.

“Wow, you’re one hell of a kisser,” he’d said.

She’d just smiled, and in the next second he felt a blade pressed to his throat.

Childe tilted his head back down, smiling up at her. “I’m honored, Lumi.”

Lumine filled his every morning with sound. He never quite got used to feeling his arms around her waist.

To hearing her groan as she stretched, to seeing her smile back at him.

“We’re still enemies, right?” He had to know, his nervous voice filling up space in the room. Was it too much?

She smiled back at him, over her freckled shoulder. “Of course. Can’t you tell?”

A vase sat nearby, filled with the sunflowers he loved. The ones that reminded him of her.

She lifted a pillow, aiming it at him with a big pout. “Fight me, comrade,” she said in her deepest voice.

And just like that, the walls of his room were no longer pushing in. His chest no longer felt constricted.

He broke into a smile, and it’s like the room filled with air, with light.

She tackled him back onto the bed, her small form pressed onto his, pushing at his thighs. He took in a deep breath, chest puffing up, hoping not to hurt her on his scars, or his bones.

And she laughed. She laughed loudly, and pressed a kiss to his collarbone, and then hit him in the head with a pillow.

He kept his eyes open, even with it pressed over his face, and when she removed it he got to see her, hair all ruffled, laughing over him.

Lumine filled his nights with sound.

They’d gotten into one hell of a fight, ruin guards still passing beside them. Diluc flew by, sword aflame, cutting one down, his look determined.

They’d recently found him someone on their travels, and he wasn’t so lonely since hanging out with them. Though he couldn’t quite agree with Childe’s ways, some part of him understood. A job is a job.

Childe was just happy to be accepted, to be wanted by these people.

On the other end of the clearing, Venti was shooting idly. They’d just shown up, making the most of their attacks on the enemy.

Lumine, over Childe, was laughing into the crook of his neck, her arms slung around his shoulders.

He’d fallen back on the dirt, with her above him, and pressed a hand against her back, holding her close.

“Oh, we did it, girlie! We crushed them.” He laughed. “You were amazing.”

Thunder roared nearby, and he could hear it, feel it rumbling through his fingertips. The rain started coming down, and it felt like bathing him.

Every inch of him felt alive, felt free, felt like he finally had a purpose.

Sure, they were covered in mud. Her new dress was torn.

But he’d buy her a new one.

Lumine smiled at him and the thunder clashed again, and all he could think was a thousand thoughts about how nice she was, how she opened the world for him again, made him hear it to it’s farthest extent. How much she filled for him.

He stared into her yellow eyes and felt his soul sigh.

There was another fight, after that. A bit later.

Lumine filled his ears with sound, with the sound of a roaring heartbeat.

She threw her arms around his shoulders, her chest against his head. Ajax fell back, hard against the ground, dirt flying up beside him.

Rocks flying down around them.

He braced his arms around her, trying to lift them. Trying to get them off.

He felt her warm breath on his neck, and laughed. “Thank archons, right Lumi? Right?”

He pushed the rocks again. Diluc and Venti were overhead. There’s no way anything bad would happen.

He didn’t feel anything.

It was dark in there, and quiet, and he realized why a second later.

Her chest, pressed against his, had no sound coming from it. No pounding against his own heart.

He panicked, grabbing her tight to him. Trying to twist her around, so he could lay her on the ground.

But he couldn’t move that far in a space like this, couldn’t use his delusion without crushing her, couldn’t move.

He pressed a hand to her back, tried to start her heart. Anything.

A bit more air puffed out of her mouth, against his neck.

And then nothing.

Diluc scrambled above them, pulling at the rocks as fast as he could, until he saw Childe’s face.

He began shouting then, but Childe couldn’t hear anything.

The rocks were pulled off, and then he was standing, staring down at her. All crumpled up, like a little flower that fell under the wrong spot.

Why had she protected him?

Or was the blow itself just too strong for such a kind person?

Thunder was roiling nearby again, but Childe’s shivering form didn’t care. He didn’t care to listen in. He didn’t want to even feel his own pounding heart.

He wanted to feel nothing at all, nothing at all, if he couldn’t bring her back.

She’d been the one to show him how to enjoy the world. How to see the colors in every birdsong, the excitement in every sunbeam, the precious basking in every breath.

Helianthus walked down the street. He was a beautiful man, with freckles like stars, ginger hair, and striking blue eyes. A hydro vision sat on his shoulder, dangling with every step, pounding against his heart.

He was widely considered one of the most eligible bachelors around, especially after arriving to town and ordering the most expensive room, and most expensive drink.

They’d worried he would be a hellion, somewhat of a young troublemaker on daddy’s money.

But he was self-sufficient, always cleaning up the room before the maids got there. He left ample payments for the services he received, which were pretty basic.

His one request was that they supply the room with fresh flowers, and he always asked for yellow ones. Sunflowers, if they could find them.

Many peasants whispered about this quirk, wondering if perhaps he wasn’t fully human.

He would take the hardest requests, and whether he came back damaged or not, he seemed to be fine.

But he’d never answer to his name, always needing someone to place a hand on his shoulder. To smile at him, with crinkled eyes. And his eyes never smiled back.

But always he returned to those flowers, and laid beside them, in a quiet room, the shutters closed.

Lumine filled his every day with sound.